For last week’s contest (see the winner here) we looked to the past; this week we look to the future. Contest #2 will require a willingness to play with language, some rudimentary poetry skills, and a dash of creativity.

For this week's contest you have towrite a haiku about the future. I know the title says "of the future", but that's just because it's more catchy. We were thinking of calling this contest Futureku or even Haikuture, so I don’t think you have any room to complain. You can write about any aspect of the future. This includes technology, fashion, food, sports, language, Tony Danza, or whatever. Let your mind wander.

Don't worry if you've never written a haiku before; it's easy. If you can count the number of syllables in a word, you can write a haiku. For our purposes you just have to know that a standard haiku has 3 lines, and that the lines have a 5-7-5 syllable breakdown. That means the 1st and 3rd lines have 5 syllables and the 2nd line has 7.

You can enter the contest by clicking on Contest Entries (also located below) and leaving your poem there. By leaving an entry you are agreeing to the contest rules and terms. This week’s prize is a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com and a 100 yen coin. The deadline for entry is Friday July 11th at 5pm EST. Like usual, our users will determine the winner. You can rate haikus in the Contest Entries section by clicking on the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icons. Friday evening we’ll put up a poll with 5 finalists. You’ll have until 5pm on Sunday to vote. Good luck!

Winning this week’s contest might not make you a famous poet, but it’s not a bad way to start. Let me start you out with an example entry that might make me a famous poet:

It makes crisp bagels (5 syllables in this line) Then it downloads my emails (7 syllables in this line) Love my iToaster (5 syllables in this line)

Contest Summary

What you have to do: Write a haiku about the future.How to enter: Write your entry in the Contest Entries section.Deadline: Friday, July 11th at 5pm ESTPrize: A $25 Amazon.com gift certificate and a 100 Yen coin.

Announcement:This contest is closed. Feel free to continue to leave your haiku here, but you'll be doing so strictly for our edification. Why don’t you check out the latest update or contest?

166 Responses to “Contest #2: Haiku of the Future”

This is where you should leave your future haiku. Lest anyone think us ignorant, I would like to point out that we know this contest doesn’t meet the exact definition of a haiku. In fact, it’s closer to a senryu. However, we’re calling it a haiku contest because a senryu contest would have about as much draw as a PBS documentary about the history of funnels.

This is where you should leave your future haiku. Lest anyone think us ignorant, I would like to point out that we know this contest doesn’t meet the exact definition of a haiku. In fact, it’s closer to a senryu. However, we’re calling it a haiku contest because a senryu contest would have about as much draw as a PBS documentary about the history of funnels.

Nolie, while I’d bet you didn’t mean to offend, I read “China man” and read “Chinaman” – your breakdown of “Chinama” or “China man” is farcical. You know as well as anyone that “Chinaman” is a derogatory epithet. Putting a space in the middle or saying it was for the flow of a haiku doesn’t really change what it is. Your ad hominem attack on TD, instead of a reasoned an fair explanation doesn’t really put you in the best light. To insult him in haiku is not exactly chilling, is it now?

Nolie, while I’d bet you didn’t mean to offend, I read “China man” and read “Chinaman” – your breakdown of “Chinama” or “China man” is farcical. You know as well as anyone that “Chinaman” is a derogatory epithet. Putting a space in the middle or saying it was for the flow of a haiku doesn’t really change what it is. Your ad hominem attack on TD, instead of a reasoned an fair explanation doesn’t really put you in the best light. To insult him in haiku is not exactly chilling, is it now?

I’m not interested in being put “in the best light”. My aim is to write a funny haiku, not address hypersensitivity. My point is that a “reasoned and fair explanation” has as much place in this forum as a chilling comment breaking the humorous tone of the contest based on a judgement made from a spirit of hypocritical policital correctness. Kindly refrain from threadcrapping. I do not crap on your threads.

I’m not interested in being put “in the best light”. My aim is to write a funny haiku, not address hypersensitivity. My point is that a “reasoned and fair explanation” has as much place in this forum as a chilling comment breaking the humorous tone of the contest based on a judgement made from a spirit of hypocritical policital correctness. Kindly refrain from threadcrapping. I do not crap on your threads.

Nolie, when you explain, you insult your critics. When you apologize, you insult your critics. Forgive me for finding your apology more than a little insincere.

In my understanding, political correctness, when used negatively, is protesting or stopping legitimate discussion on the basis of insulting a vaguely defined group. I didn’t say, “You can’t criticize China!” I didn’t say, “You have to pretend China is not competing with US!”
I said using “China man” – a well-known racial slur dating from the time of Western Imperialism in China and which carries a feeling of backwardness – was not very nice. I tried to make it light-hearted and to give you an example of how it is offensive by placing a parallel. Clearly, I failed and you did not take the point. I apologize if my syntax was offensive. I should be more careful in English perhaps.

I pointed out your oversight (I don’t mean to accuse you of racism) and you responded with unwarranted rudeness. Garret politiely explained why it was offensive and you did the same to him.

Then you apologized for geting upset, not for considering humor more important than consideration for other people. Not for rudely insulting someone who was polite to you. This is immature. This is bad manners.

I pointed out that “Chinaman” is offensive, this is not political correctness. I would guess that you would not have the same reaction if someone used “N” word, but it is OK to deride Chinese? Please explain this.

If you said, “Sorry, I didn’t think about it,” it would be finished. Instead, you made it seem my fault and you gave a phony explanation of what you did.

It’s sad that you get “heated up” about the idea of politeness to people who aren’t white male Americans. It’s also sad that you accuse people who ask to reconsider of hypocrisy. Please check a dictionary for the word’s meaning.

If your reply is going to be to try to insult me again, don’t waste your time.

Nolie, when you explain, you insult your critics. When you apologize, you insult your critics. Forgive me for finding your apology more than a little insincere.

In my understanding, political correctness, when used negatively, is protesting or stopping legitimate discussion on the basis of insulting a vaguely defined group. I didn’t say, “You can’t criticize China!” I didn’t say, “You have to pretend China is not competing with US!”
I said using “China man” – a well-known racial slur dating from the time of Western Imperialism in China and which carries a feeling of backwardness – was not very nice. I tried to make it light-hearted and to give you an example of how it is offensive by placing a parallel. Clearly, I failed and you did not take the point. I apologize if my syntax was offensive. I should be more careful in English perhaps.

I pointed out your oversight (I don’t mean to accuse you of racism) and you responded with unwarranted rudeness. Garret politiely explained why it was offensive and you did the same to him.

Then you apologized for geting upset, not for considering humor more important than consideration for other people. Not for rudely insulting someone who was polite to you. This is immature. This is bad manners.

I pointed out that “Chinaman” is offensive, this is not political correctness. I would guess that you would not have the same reaction if someone used “N” word, but it is OK to deride Chinese? Please explain this.

If you said, “Sorry, I didn’t think about it,” it would be finished. Instead, you made it seem my fault and you gave a phony explanation of what you did.

It’s sad that you get “heated up” about the idea of politeness to people who aren’t white male Americans. It’s also sad that you accuse people who ask to reconsider of hypocrisy. Please check a dictionary for the word’s meaning.

If your reply is going to be to try to insult me again, don’t waste your time.

Td, I notice that you didn;t hesitate to use the epithet for white males. Why didn’t you select another group to insult? Maybe because it’s ok to insult white males? Racism at its most blatant, but you’ve obviously drunk the kool-aid, so I guess I can overlook. You may respond by saying that you are a white male, so you can’t possibly be racist toward white men. If so, I would suggest that you shed some guilt unless you’re really oppressing someone. If you aren’t a white male, disregard the last three sentences.

Td, I notice that you didn;t hesitate to use the epithet for white males. Why didn’t you select another group to insult? Maybe because it’s ok to insult white males? Racism at its most blatant, but you’ve obviously drunk the kool-aid, so I guess I can overlook. You may respond by saying that you are a white male, so you can’t possibly be racist toward white men. If so, I would suggest that you shed some guilt unless you’re really oppressing someone. If you aren’t a white male, disregard the last three sentences.

Vlad, I don’t think Nolie “rolled over”, I think he was trying to smooth things over so people would want to continue writing haikus. Also, TD used honkey as an example of an additional racist remark. I don’t think that qualifies him as a racist. I’m not saying you don’t have a point about racism being possible against everyone, including white men, I’m just trying to smooth things over so people want to write haikus (or whatever the next contest will be) again. Cheers.

Vlad, I don’t think Nolie “rolled over”, I think he was trying to smooth things over so people would want to continue writing haikus. Also, TD used honkey as an example of an additional racist remark. I don’t think that qualifies him as a racist. I’m not saying you don’t have a point about racism being possible against everyone, including white men, I’m just trying to smooth things over so people want to write haikus (or whatever the next contest will be) again. Cheers.

Greg, while I can appreciate and respect your consistency, the
very idea that one can use the term “guardians of correctness”
with a straight face boggles my mind. I half expect the UPS man
to show up at the front door with a package with a big ACME logo
on it. Last night I had composed about three pages dealing with
the absolute nonsense of political correctness and the dangers
it poses to a free society, but cyberspace ate it, so I’ve taken
that occurrence as an omen to tone down my response. How about a
good old fashion book-burnin’ to ensure that no material offensive
to anyone can ever be made available to the poor bleating masses.
I can’t wait for the speech police and a little later, the thought
police to show up at the front door to serve their warrants. I
guess that the definition of “free thinker” has been given a new
definition since I first took up the mantle 40 years ago. Sticks
and stones.

Greg, while I can appreciate and respect your consistency, the
very idea that one can use the term “guardians of correctness”
with a straight face boggles my mind. I half expect the UPS man
to show up at the front door with a package with a big ACME logo
on it. Last night I had composed about three pages dealing with
the absolute nonsense of political correctness and the dangers
it poses to a free society, but cyberspace ate it, so I’ve taken
that occurrence as an omen to tone down my response. How about a
good old fashion book-burnin’ to ensure that no material offensive
to anyone can ever be made available to the poor bleating masses.
I can’t wait for the speech police and a little later, the thought
police to show up at the front door to serve their warrants. I
guess that the definition of “free thinker” has been given a new
definition since I first took up the mantle 40 years ago. Sticks
and stones.